The Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries with Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour "Making a Stand" for Thursday, October 27, 2016
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who ... in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.[Philippians 2:4-5, 8]
Milliken University is a fine private school in Central Illinois.
At their football game on September 24th, some of the members of the team decided to "take a knee" rather than stand for the national anthem. In doing so, they followed NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick who, in his protest against racial injustice, has also not shown respect for the anthem.
The reaction of the local community was one of outrage.
In response the Milliken football team decided on another course of action: they would remain in the locker room until after the anthem had been played, and then they would all spend a moment in personal reflection on those who had made sacrifices for the country and how they can live up to the idea of "liberty and justice for all."
And that's what they did ... except for Connor Brewer, a defensive lineman.
The picture of Brewer, standing alone on that football field while the anthem was being played, was picked up by the news media. Some said he was a hero, while others complained he had betrayed the solidarity of his team. Brewer, himself, out of respect for his coach and fellow players, declined to be interviewed.
So there you have it: Americans making use of their freedom of speech to convey a message.
No one can doubt they are acting according to conscience, nor dare we think those protesters have proceeded without first having searched their hearts. Still, the responses to what they have done have not been especially positive.
That is because most have forgotten you do not right a wrong by doing another wrong. You cannot help someone you feel has been mistreated by mistreating the values of someone else. In this case, discussion has revolved more around the protest than the cause which motivated it.
St. Paul makes the point better than I ever could when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:23: "'All things are lawful,' but not all things are helpful. 'All things are lawful,' but not all things build up."
Now I don't expect the world will pay much attention to the inspired words of the apostle. People outside the Christian community will continue to indiscriminately use their "rights" to correct all manner of real and imagined wrongs.
But we believers should be different. Following the Savior's example we should, in humility, look to the interests of others. Following Jesus, we should bring about positive changes, by reaching out to others and encouraging them to be better than the world.
THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I give thanks for the Savior who gave up heaven and humbled Himself so that all who believe on Him might be forgiven, saved and be changed for the better. May my Christian life be conducted in a way that will strengthen others rather than tearing them down. In the Savior's Name I pray it. Amen.
In Christ I remain His servant and yours,
Pastor Ken Klaus
Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour
Lutheran Hour Ministries
Today's Bible in a Year Reading: Jeremiah 47-48; Hebrews 2
Jeremiah 47:1 This word of Adonai came to Yirmeyahu the prophet concerning the P’lishtim before Pharaoh attacked ‘Azah: 2 “Here is what Adonai says:
‘Water is rising out of the north;
it will become a flooding stream,
flooding the land and all that is in it,
the city and its inhabitants.
The people are crying out in alarm,
everyone in the land is weeping
3 at the thunderous pound of his stallions’ hoofs,
at his rattling chariots’ rumbling wheels.
Fathers fail to turn back for their children;
instead, their hands hang limp,
4 because the day has come
for destroying all the P’lishtim,
for cutting off from Tzor and Tzidon
the last of their allies;
for Adonai is destroying the P’lishtim,
the remnant from the island of Kaftor.
5 ‘Azah is shaved bald,
Ashkelon reduced to silence.
Those of you who remain in their valley,
how long will you go on gashing yourselves?’”
6 Oh, sword of Adonai,
how long till you can be quiet?
Put yourself back in your scabbard!
Stop! Be still!
7 But how can you be still?
For Adonai has given it orders
against Ashkelon, against the seacoast;
he has assigned it its task there.
48:1 Concerning Mo’av, this is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says:
“Woe to N’vo, for it is ravaged;
Kiryatayim disgraced and captured.
Misgav is put to shame, distressed.
2 “In Mo’av, nothing is left to praise.
At Heshbon they plotted her downfall:
‘Come, we’ll cut her off as a nation.’
You too, Madmein, will be silenced;
the sword pursues behind you.
3 An agonized cry from Horonayim,
ruin, terrible devastation!
4 Mo’av has been shattered;
the cries of her young ones are heard,
5 as they ascend the slopes of Luchit,
weeping bitterly as they climb.
On the road down to Horonayim
shrieks of destruction ring out.”
6 Flee! Save your lives!
Be strong, like a tamarisk in the desert.
7 Because you trust in your deeds and your wealth,
you too will be captured.
Together with his priests and princes,
K’mosh will go into exile.
8 A destroyer will descend on every city,
no city will escape.
The valley too will perish,
the plain will be laid waste,
as Adonai as said.
9 Give Mo’av wings,
so it can fly and get away.
Its cities will become ruins,
with no one to live in them.
10 A curse on him who does the work
of Adonai carelessly!
A curse on him who withholds his sword
from blood!
11 Mo’av has lived at ease from his youth;
he is [wine] settled on its dregs,
not decanted from jar to jar —
he has not gone into exile.
Therefore it retains its own [bad] taste,
its aroma remains unchanged.
12 “So the days are coming,” says Adonai, “when I will send people to tilt him; they will tilt his jars, emptying them and shattering the wine-flasks to pieces. 13 Mo’av will be disappointed by K’mosh then, just as the house of Isra’el was disappointed by Beit-El, a god in whom they had put their trust.
14 “How can you say, ‘We are heroes,
warriors valiant in battle’?
15 They are ravaging Mo’av, attacking its cities;
its best young men go down to be slaughtered,”
says the king, whose name is Adonai-Tzva’ot.
16 Mo’av’s ruin is coming soon,
its disaster speeds on swiftly.
17 Pity him, all of you who are near him,
all of you who know his name;
say, “How the mighty scepter is shattered,
that splendid staff!”
18 Descend from your glory, and sit in thirst,
daughter living in Divon;
for Mo’av’s destroyer advances on you;
he has destroyed your strongholds.
19 Stand by the road and watch,
inhabitant of ‘Aro‘er;
ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping,
“What is going on?”
20 Mo’av is disgraced, indeed, destroyed.
Wail aloud! Shriek!
Proclaim it by the Arnon
that Mo’av has been laid waste.
21 Judgment has come on the Plain — on Holon, Yachtzah, Mefa‘at, 22 Divon, N’vo, Beit-Diblatayim, 23 Kiryatayim, Beit-Gamul, Beit-M‘on, 24 K’riot, Botzrah and all the cities in the land of Mo’av, far and near.
25 “Mo’av’s strength is cut down,
his arm is broken,” says Adonai.
26 Because Mo’av boasted against Adonai, make him so drunk that he wallows in his own vomit and becomes a laughingstock. 27 After all, Isra’el was a laughingstock for you. He didn’t associate with thieves; nevertheless, whenever you spoke of him, you shook your head.
28 You who live in Mo’av,
leave the cities, and live on the rocks;
be like the dove who makes her nest
in a hole in the rock at the mouth of a cave.
29 We have heard of the pride of Mo’av:
so very proud he is! —
presumptuous, proud, conceited;
so haughty his heart!
30 “I know what meager ground he has
for his arrogance,” says Adonai.
“His boasting has nothing behind it,
and it hasn’t accomplished a thing.”
31 Therefore I wail for Mo’av;
for all Mo’av I cry;
for the people of Kir-Heres I lament.
32 I will weep for you, vineyard of Sivmah,
more than I wept for Ya‘zer.
Your branches spread to the sea,
reaching as far as the sea of Ya‘zer.
On your summer fruits and on your vintage
the destroyer has fallen.
33 Gladness and joy have been removed
from productive fields and the land of Mo’av.
“I have stopped the flow of wine from the vats
and the shouts of those who tread the grapes —
those shouts of joy are stilled.”
34 The cries from Heshbon to El‘aleh
are heard as far away as Yachatz;
those from Tzo‘ar to Horonayim
are heard in ‘Eglat-Shlishiyah;
for even the waters of Nimrim
have become a desolate waste.
35 “Moreover,” says Adonai,
“in Mo’av I will put an end
to anyone sacrificing on a high place
or offering incense to his gods.”
36 This is why my heart is moaning
for Mo’av like funeral flutes,
why my heart moans for the men
of Kir-Heres like funeral flutes;
for the wealth they produced has vanished.
37 Every head has been shaved bald,
every beard has been clipped short,
gashes are on every hand,
sackcloth around every waist.
38 On all the housetops of Mo’av
and in its open places —
lamentation everywhere!
“For I have broken Mo’av like a pot
that nobody wants,” says Adonai.
39 Wail, “How shattered is Mo’av!
How shamefully in retreat!”
Thus will Mo’av become an object
of ridicule and distress to all its neighbors.
40 For here is what Adonai says:
“Look! Down he swoops like a vulture,
spreading his wings against Mo’av —
41 the cities are captured, the strongholds are seized.
On that day the hearts of Mo’av’s warriors
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
42 Mo’av will be destroyed as a people,
because he boasted against Adonai.
43 Terror, pit and trap are upon you,
people of Mo’av,” says Adonai.
44 “Whoever flees from the terror
will fall into the pit;
and he who climbs up out of the pit
will be caught in the trap.
For I will bring on her, on Mo’av,
the year for her punishment,” says Adonai.
45 “In the shadow of Heshbon
the fugitives stop, exhausted.
For fire breaks out from Heshbon,
a flame from inside Sichon,
consuming the sides and tops of the heads
of Mo’av’s noisy boasters.
46 Woe to you, Mo’av!
K’mosh’s people are doomed!
For your sons have been taken captive,
and your daughters led into captivity.
47 Yet I will end Mo’av’s exile
in the acharit-hayamim,” says Adonai.
This is the judgment on Mo’av.
Hebrews
2:1 Therefore, we must pay much more careful heed to the things we have heard, so that we will not drift away. 2 For if the word God spoke through angels became binding, so that every violation and act of disobedience received its just deserts in full measure, 3 then how will we escape if we ignore such a great deliverance? This deliverance, which was first declared by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him; 4 while God also bore witness to it with various signs, wonders and miracles, and with gifts of the Ruach HaKodesh which he distributed as he chose.
5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the ‘olam haba — which is what we are talking about. 6 And there is a place where someone has given this solemn testimony:
“What is mere man, that you concern yourself with him?
or the son of man, that you watch over him with such care?
7 You made him a little lower than the angels,
you crowned him with glory and honor,
8 you put everything in subjection under his feet.”[
Hebrews 2:8 Psalm 8:5–7(4–6)
]
In subjecting everything to him, he left nothing unsubjected to him. However, at present, we don’t see everything subjected to him — at least, not yet. 9 But we do see Yeshua — who indeed was made for a little while lower than the angels — now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by God’s grace he might taste death for all humanity. 10 For in bringing many sons to glory, it was only fitting that God, the Creator and Preserver of everything, should bring the Initiator of their deliverance to the goal through sufferings. 11 For both Yeshua, who sets people apart for God, and the ones being set apart have a common origin — this is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers 12 when he says,
“I will proclaim your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”[Hebrews 2:12 Psalm 22:23(22)]
13 Also,
“I will put my trust in him, . . .”[Hebrews 2:13 Isaiah 8:17]
and then it goes on,
“Here I am, along with the children God has given me.”[Hebrews 2:13 Isaiah 8:18 (Septuagint)]
14 Therefore, since the children share a common physical nature as human beings, he became like them and shared that same human nature; so that by his death he might render ineffective the one who had power over death (that is, the Adversary) 15 and thus set free those who had been in bondage all their lives because of their fear of death.
16 Indeed, it is obvious that he does not take hold of angels to help them; on the contrary,
“He takes hold of the seed of Avraham.”[Hebrews 2:16 Isaiah 41:8–9]
17 This is why he had to become like his brothers in every respect — so that he might become a merciful and faithful cohen gadol in the service of God, making a kapparah for the sins of the people. 18 For since he himself suffered death when he was put to the test, he is able to help those who are being tested now.
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CHANGE THEIR WORLD. CHANGE YOURS. THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
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BE AN AMBASSADOR OR DONATE
The Lutheran Hour Ministries
660 Mason Ridge Center
Saint Louis, Missouri 63141, United States
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